Within the realm of Romantic piano music, where new discoveries are constantly just around the corner, the contribution of Robert Schumann has always played a major part. True, he cannot rival the aura of Chopin’s works, of which Ignaz Friedman asserted that not only had Chopin opened the piano with them, he had closed it again. (Schumann paid his own tribute in his reverent review of Chopin’s op. 2 of 1831, the Variations on Mozart’s “Reich mir die Hand, mein Leben”). Nor did Schumann embed in the history of piano playing such milestones of technical mastery and manual dexterity as Liszt who – inspired by Paganini’s concerts and enabled by the double-escapement action developed by Sébastien Erard in 1821 – had practically reinvented the instrument by the time he wrote his Etudes d’exécution transcendante in 1837. And neither the sprightliness of Felix Mendelssohn’s keyboard idiom nor Charles-Valentin Alkan’s exaltation of virtuosity are characteristic of Schumann’s piano music, even if he proves in his Abegg Variations op. 1 (1830) and his Toccata op. 7 (1832) that he brilliantly commanded both approaches to the instrument.

During their long collaboration (1997 - 2019) Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra developed a project they named ‘Opening Doors’, performing orchestral works from the Romantic era with the smaller-than-usual forces of a chamber orchestra. Due to the often revelatory results of this approach, the team went on to present at concerts around the world and on several recordings. This box set brings together an important chapter of the project: Robert Schumann’s orchestral music, symphonies as well as overtures. In addition to his four symphonies - including both versions of No. 4 - this collection presents the Zwickau Symphony, an early, unfinished work from 1832-33, as well as a divertimento-like sequence of movements, Overture, Scherzo and Finale.

Of the six overtures included in the set some are well-known, like the overture to Genoveva, Schumann’s only opera, and the Manfred Overture which Clara Schumann regarded as ‘one of the most poetic and most gripping of Robert’s pieces’. Other, less often heard works will constitute pleasant discoveries. The three albums included in the set were greeted with critical acclaim on their individual releases, earning distinctions in magazines such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and Fono Forum. Summing up the cycle, the reviewer in Fanfare described it as ‘close to being the most thrilling Schumann symphony series on the market, with sawing violins smoking down to the bridge and timpani-like rifle shots.’

Past praise for the albums included in this edition:

Symphony No. 1 & Overtures

Right from the opening fanfares, there's a sense of joy and exhilaration, and the openness of the orchestral textures brings freshness and clarity. The ensemble’s lithe flexibility is used to the full by Dausgaard, whose instincts on tempo are persuasive, and the dramatic tension underpinning the work isn't allowed to evaporate.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4

The Second Symphony is revealing with keen accents and prominent inner voices, the latter half of the slow introduction biting and muscular, the main Allegro superbly built. In the Scherzo Dausgaard slows and softens the bridge passage appealingly, accentuating the dizzy flight back to the main subject. In the achingly beautiful Adagio, top line and accompaniment seem to lean on each other to ease the pain, and in speeding for the finale's second set Dausgaard intensifies the argument, making fresh sense of it.

-- Gramophone

Dausgaard is not the first conductor to use the 1841 version of the D minor Symphony… but… this performance, given by an orchestra of the size of Schumann himself would have known brings it vividly to life.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Also available: Schumann-Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1 "Spring" & 2 / Alsop, ORF Vienna RSO

Robert Schumann’s Fourth Symphony was initially conceived not long after the success of the First, but the dramatic original single-movement version confused audiences, and substantial revisions resulted in the eloquent masterpiece we hear today. This and the Third Symphony owe a great deal to Beethoven, with the ‘Rhenish’ sharing much of the joy and effervescence of the ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. Gustav Mahler’s subtle re-orchestrations were made in the light of instrumental innovations and the increase in size of the symphony orchestra towards the beginning of the 20th century, making them ideal for performance today.

Learn more about this release and the previous volume on the Naxos podcast!

REVIEW:

The Mahler versions are infrequently recorded, and it was not a surprise to see this release land on classical best-seller lists in early 2023. Far from trying to turn Schumann into Mahler, these versions actually thin out the texture; Mahler cut out some of the brass lines to make the music more transparent in the hands of a 100-player orchestra. This is ideally suited to Alsop’s approach to these works, which is light and clear. The biggest differences are in the Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120, where Mahler eliminated repeats and restored other features of Schumann’s original version of the work, which was also championed by Brahms but vehemently rejected by Clara Schumann; it is interesting to hear this hybrid version. Well executed in every way, this is an essential release for Schumann buffs.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

For over 60 years, repeated efforts have been made to capture on recording Robert Schumann’s Complete Works for Piano solo, a fascinatingly broad and varied spectrum ranging from highly virtuosic pieces for the concert hall and valuable literature for teaching purposes. This attractive and yet challenging assignment was not always approached with the necessary intellectual rigor, quite apart from any purely artistic shortcomings, and so none of these sets can justly be deemed “complete”. Schumann had published a string of works in two more or less divergent versions, so that it is highly questionable whether an edition can be labelled “Complete Recordings” if it only contains one of those versions or worse still, makes a misguided attempt to combine two of them. Meanwhile, works that were published at remote locations or remained unpublished have hitherto been taken into account only in exceptional cases.

The first true complete recording of Robert Schumann’s works for piano solo on 17 albums (in 15 volumes), played by Florian Uhlig, seeks for the first time to offer imaginative compilations containing all original works for pianoforte written between 1830 (Abegg Variations op. 1) and 1854 (Ghost Variations) according to the newest critical editions and/or first editions. Several of these albums also contain premiere recordings, often of fragments that were amenable to completion. After the project was completed in 2021, it was evident from a further critical inspection of the five Studien- und Skizzenbücher held in the University and State Library in Bonn, and from the volumes of the complete piano works for two hands that have so far appeared in this comprehensive and groundbreaking edition, that there is a string of either very short complete or longer fragmentary pieces dating from about 1830 to 1837 that are worthy of attention.

After recording the sonatas for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, a triptych that won numerous awards, including the Juno for Classical Album of the Year - Small Ensemble (2022) and an ADISQ award, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin continue their fruitful collaboration by performing the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). A perfect work to highlight the complicity that has developed between the concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the pianist who won the silver medal at the 2015 Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition.

Also available: Schumann-Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Alsop, ORF Vienna RSO

Robert Schumann’s works lie at the center of German Romanticism, with an essentially lyrical style that reflects his quintessential place among the great German composers. From 1840 Schumann switched from writing, primarily, piano music and Lieder, to writing orchestral music, with the joyful First Symphony written in just four days, and the uplifting tone of the Second Symphony a remarkable triumph over depression and illness. But the effectiveness of Schumann’s orchestration in his symphonies has been the cause of much debate. Gustav Mahler’s re-orchestrations from the early1900s provide models of tasteful modification that are suited to the larger orchestras of today.

Learn more about this release in this Naxos Classical Spotlight podcast episode!

REVIEWS:

Mahler, king of the large orchestra, actually lightened Schumann’s textures in these arrangements. The results, when played with such passion and precision as here, are hugely rewarding.

-- BBC Music

Both works on this program benefit from unusually fine accounts by Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. For my money these really committed performances are of even greater significance than are the Mahler re-orchestrations.

-- Audio-Video Club of Atlanta

Marin Alsop may have done real credit to this revision, as she gives them the greatest attention and makes her orchestra sound appropriately powerful and grandiose.

-- Pizzicato

Classical Music

REVIEW:

This robust, energetic recording of the three Schumann sonatas follows the duo’s recording of Mozart sonatas, a recording that was honored both by Gramophone and by the BBC Music Magazine . In my collection, it joins the 2006 Schumann recording by Jennifer Koh and the recording of the first two sonatas by Gidon Kremer with Martha Argerich. It’s regrettable, but understandable, that Kremer and Argerich didn’t record the Third Sonata alongside the more favored first two. The Third Sonata was hidden from view for most of a century. It was Clara Schumann who not only expressed her disapproval of the Third Sonata, but suppressed it; it was published only in 1956.

What is odd about that is that she adored the first two sonatas. Schumann composed the first in five days in 1851. In her diary, Clara wrote that she couldn’t wait to play it: “I could not rest, I had to try Robert’s new sonata at once. We played it and felt especially moved by the very elegiac first movement and the lovely second movement.” She proclaimed the second “wonderfully original, with a depth and magnificence that I have hardly ever heard before.” Clara found the Second Sonata overwhelming. The Third Sonata was different: Schumann famously decided that he, Brahms, and Albert Dietrich should all write movements to present to the violinist Joseph Joachim. Only later did Schumann finish the piece. It’s still considered problematic. From its harsh opening on, it’s a temperamental work that sounds, according to this duo, easier to play than it is.

Tetzlaff and Vogt sound fully committed to Schumann’s lyricism, and occasional eccentricity. They play passionately, and with attention to the composer’s sometimes fleeting moods. They make as much out of the often whimsical sounding twists and turns of the music as does anyone. Tetzlaff has a full, rich, impassioned tone, and Vogt is equally forthright. Not everyone is a fan of the later Schumann compositions; I am ambivalent. But certainly they deserve the respectful, skilled, and musical performances we hear on this disc.

-- Fanfare: Michael Ullman

"• Volume 7 of what will become the first truly complete recording of Schumann's piano works • Outstanding reviews worldwide • Each volume in the series features at least one World Premiere recording • Florian Uhlig is one of today’s in-demand and most interesting German pianists"

This 2014 recording saw Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra embark upon their first symphonic cycle together in a performance which earnt widespread praise. Sir Simon Rattle commented, ‘Robin makes a clear case for how the revised version can retain the radical edge of the 1841 version. Still it sounds like a fireball and I take my hat off to him.’ Schumann: The Symphonies also won a prestigious Edison Award, received several five star reviews and featured in multiple critics’ ‘Best of 2014’ lists worldwide, including The Sunday Times Top 10. When Ticciati and the SCO performed the Third Symphony at the 2017 BBC Proms, the critics were equally effusive. The symphonies are very close to Robin Ticciati’s heart; Schumann is one of his favourite composers and has often spoken about how important poetry, colour and story are in Schumann’s music. The SCO’s smaller forces bring a lightness of touch and a clarity to the counterpoint; under Ticciati they achieve a sense of movement that no previous recording has.

-----

Ticciati clearly knows how he wants this music to go and his strong partnership with the Edinburgh players enables him to shape readings notable for their energy and individuality. Throughout the performances are characterised by a woodwind sweetness that is becoming a trademark of this orchestra.

– Gramophone

Recording of the Month

When it comes to the music of Robert Schumann the dramatic works have always seemed to be the poor relations when compared to the rest of his music. This is mainly due to the writing of Eduard Hanslick, who at best damned the works with faint praise. The so-called "War of the Romantics" did not help: Schumann was seen as part of the conservative side by the followers of the modernists who included Liszt and Wagner. Either way his dramatic output and especially his opera, Genoveva, a work I enjoy, suffered as a consequence. Scenes from Goethe's Faust did not fare much better, which is a real shame as I have always regarded it as one of his greatest pieces, and not just of his late period, the music of which Hanslick all but dismisses. A convincing argument for the Scenes as a major work is made in the excellent accompanying book.

One of the perceived problems is that it is difficult to describe. It is not an opera but it's hardly an oratorio either. Perhaps a new genre needs to be developed to describe it. Until then perhaps we can call it an opera-oratorio, a description that highlights the best that the work has to offer in both worlds.

Scenes from Goethe's Faust had a prolonged gestation period of some nine years (1844-1853), with the third section having originally been conceived as a standalone work. The first two sections - Schumann was the first composer to set part two of Goethe's text to music - were added later. This led to the criticism that it was unbalanced with the best music being found in the final section, while the rest, which was composed during the period of Schumann's final illness said to lack the spark of inspiration. This is far from the truth. The work has to be seen as a whole or the scenes do not work together. These sections are used to highlight specific aspects of the 'Faust' myth and not the story as a whole.

If the third part could be said to be the most inspired, this is due to Goethe's text. The second part is the most dramatic and lends itself to a more dramatic interpretation through music. The result is a work which deserves more recognition. I would love to hear it performed live but whilst I can't see that happening anytime soon, this is the second new recording to have appeared in the last few years; Wit's Naxos version is the other. Perhaps people are coming to recognise this for what it is: one of Schumann's most important pieces as well as a seminal work in Romantic musical literature.

When it comes to performances the classic recording by Benjamin Britten has always been seen as the one to beat, although I must say that I have always had a soft spot for Abbado's star-studded live Sony recording from Berlin in 1994. I have always enjoyed Abbado's Schumann recordings. Is it any coincidence therefore that Daniel Harding, who became the assistant to Abbado in Berlin the following year, should choose to perform and ultimately record the work as well. This is an excellent performance, a true case of the apprentice learning well from the master. Christian Gerhaher is every bit as convincing as Bryn Terfel in the title role, while Christiane Karg, a soprano to watch, brings out a little more vulnerability to the role of Gretchen than Karita Mattila. That said there is very little to choose between the two, with all performers, soloists, chorus and orchestra, being on top form. Where the present recording wins hands down is on recording quality. There have obviously been a great many improvements in miking live performances over the last nineteen years, as this new recorded sound is a great deal brighter and more natural than that enjoyed by Abbado. This helps to bring out every nuance of the music and gives the listener new insights, especially when it comes to orchestration.

The booklet essay is excellent. It places the work in its true place of prominence. Added to this we find an interview with Christian Gerhaher in which he discusses the piece and a kind of glossary in which the characters are explained. This is all packaged in an attractive hardback book format.

– Stuart Sillitoe, MusicWeb International

Robert Schumann wrote four symphonies: these four orchestral works tie in closely with the development of his career. The Second and Fourth Symphonies are a little outshone by the popular Rhenish and Spring Symphonies. That said, these two works, which contrary to what their numbering suggests, were written successively in 1841 and 1845, demonstrate in enthralling fashion Schumann’s practice of experimenting with symphonic form. Marcus Bosch and the Cappella Aquileia explore the nuances of this music, supplemented by the overture from the opera Genoveva which shows Schumann at the height of his symphonic works.

The last of Schumann’s Symphonies to be composed, Symphony No 3 ‘Rhenish’ was most likely inspired by a cruise taken by the composer and his wife down the river Rhine. Alternating between austere splendour, great rhythmic suppleness and soaring lines, the work is an aural depiction of rural life by the river and the majestic cathedral in Cologne, and one that dares to reflect tensions between Classical form and Romantic innovation. So too does Symphony No 4, cast in four seamless movements that show Schumann’s masterly command of interrelated material and of symphonic unity.

SCHUMANN Symphonies: No. 1; No. 3 • Christian Zacharias, cond; Lausanne CO • MDG 940 1772-6 (65:34)


When Schumann’s orchestral music is discussed what almost inevitably comes up are his difficulties dealing with orchestration, especially later in his career. In assessing Schumann’s “skills” as an orchestrator, Felix Weingartner was blunt, if not brutal: “…he did not know how to handle the orchestra, either as director or as composer. He worked almost always with the full material but did not take the pains to elaborate the parts according to the character of the separate instruments. With almost childlike stupidity he expected to attain fullness and strength by doubling the instruments. Therefore the instrumentation is heavy and inflexible; the color gray against gray; the most important themes, if played according to his directions, sometimes cannot be heard; and a true forte is almost as impossible as a true piano …Schumann’s symphonies are composed for the pianoforte, and arranged—unhappily not well at that—for the orchestra.”


Schumann ran into difficulty at the very first rehearsal of the First Symphony. The first two measures of the opening fanfare were originally a third lower but Schumann discovered that, since the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performed on “natural” horns and trumpets, the next-to-last pair of notes had to be played by “stopping” the instruments, resulting in a sound that Schumann compared to “a violent cold in the head.” Mendelssohn, who was conducting, suggested moving the passage up a third and Schumann assented. Interestingly, even with valved instruments now in use, most conductors, at least on recordings, stick to Mendelssohn’s solution. Many conductors handle the “thickness” that Weingartner complained of by following his advice and thinning out the orchestration; some, on the other hand, either reorchestrate to bring out important themes or stick to Schumann’s orchestration but make adjustments in the sectional balance.


Conducting the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Christian Zacharias has an ensemble that, with something close to 50 players, is approximately the same size as Mendelssohn’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra so no thinning out is probably necessary. Although I wish the horns were a little louder, one hears much interesting detail that is often lost when the symphonies are played by a large orchestra using Schumann’s orchestration (most of the problems emerge in the later symphonies which Schumann composed during and after his bad experience conducting an orchestra in Düsseldorf). Zacharias’s “Spring” Symphony is a relaxed, moderately paced performance. Tempo-wise, it inhabits the middle of the pack and, for my taste, challenges the very best ones, my favorite of which is Peter Maag’s, with the Bern Symphony Orchestra. I wouldn’t have minded a little more playfulness in the finale—he’s pretty straightforward here and in the “Rhenish,” with the most grudging observation of ritardandos and other such tempo adjustments. Both performances abound in snappy rhythms, giving them a kind of buoyant “innocence” that I found quite charming. MDG has provided clear, detailed sound. There are a good many strong performances out there but these two carve out a special niche for themselves. I’ll bet Weingartner would have approved.


FANFARE: James Miller

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.